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VANCOUVER - Officers who carried out a dramatic raid at an east Vancouver construction site Wednesday were searching for a person with a criminal past and discovered several illegal workers in the process, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

“While attempting to locate and arrest a previously deported person with a significant criminal history, several foreign nationals were also found to be working without proper authorization and were subsequently arrested,” CBSA spokeswoman Mila Ivancic said in an email Thursday.

She also confirmed a film crew documented the raid and that the CBSA is participating in the reality TV show Border Security, based on the activities of its agents.

“The show follows the regular day-to-day duties of CBSA employees, including at the land border, airports, mail centres and inland,” said Ivancic. “While a film crew was present at yesterday’s enforcement action, our officers do this on a daily basis in the absence of cameras.”

However, the presence of cameras Wednesday raised concerns about security and consent issues involving migrant workers captured on film during the raid.

Honduran workers detained after the bust were asked to sign release forms, according to the Canadian wife of one of the men apprehended, but were given no information about the reality show.

Diana Thompson said her husband Tulio Renan Avilés Hernandez was asked to sign a form but was told only that it was to consent to “the camera crew that was there.” He refused to sign.

Thompson said Avilés Hernandes and another Honduran national, an 18-year-old named Mario, were initially held at Vancouver International Airport and would be moved Thursday to the Canadian Immigration and Customs detention centre downtown. She said they have a hearing in two days in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board and will be detained until then.

Witnesses to the raid at the Porter Development on Victoria Drive near 20th Avenue said they heard many people speaking of several other busts occurring at other sites throughout the region Wednesday.

But Ivancic denied that was the case. “CBSA officers took enforcement action at only one Vancouver area construction site,” she said, adding much of the information being circulated about the raids is “inconsistent” with internal CBSA communications.

She did not say how many workers were detained in total.

Alexis Pavlich, press secretary for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in an email that while Canadians welcome newcomers, they have no tolerance for those jumping the queue in front of other immigrants who entered the country legally.

“By cracking down on fraud, the government can ensure that the system works in the best interests of all Canadians, including the vast majority of newcomers and immigrants who are honest, law-abiding, and follow the rules,” said Pavlich.

Kenney was not available for an interview Thursday.

Harsha Walia, a spokeswoman for No One is Illegal, a national not-for-profit organization that advocates for migrant justice, said that after speaking with family members, she estimates at least 29 workers were detained. She said some of them were also picked up at construction sites in Yaletown and on Granville Street.

Avilés Hernandez, 35, and Thompson were married in November. They have known each other for three years — since shortly after Aviles Hernandez arrived in Canada. “I just think this whole (raid) is out of character for this country. It makes me wonder if this was all done just for the TV show,” said Thompson.

She said her eight-year-old daughter from a previous relationship has a bond with her husband, who considers the girl his own daughter. Thompson told The Sun she was in the process of obtaining sponsorship for her husband to work in B.C. She and other family members joined about a dozen supporters at a small rally downtown Thursday in front of the detention centre at 300 West Georgia Street.

Another woman at the protest, Angela Joseph, said her common-law husband of nine years, Pedro, was arrested Wednesday for being without a work permit at a construction site. The couple has two children, ages two and seven, who were born in Canada,

“He is a great person and a great father and spouse and I’m here to help him any way I can,” she said. “I think that the immigration services needs to be more lenient on families to keep them together, especially when they have small children.”

Walia said many of those detained are in the process of getting work permits, but because they are not allowed to work while they wait, many will take jobs under the table so they can support their families.

She said at the rally that she was deeply concerned about a television show documenting their arrests.

“That there are people making money off the fact that people are being shackled, arrested and interrogated and facing this violent situation is really horrific,” she said.

“(That) this is now qualifying as entertainment is really disturbing.”

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